This invention is related to surgical drapes, more particularly, to a drape used during irrigation of a surgical wound or trauma.
1. Background of the Invention
It is common practice to irrigate wounds and other contusions to the body. Usually, the procedure is used to cleanse the opening and allows a visual assessment of the damage. Also, the irrigation may include an application of medicaments, such as disinfectants, antibiotics, and so forth. In some situations it is necessary to use copious amounts of liquids because of blood flow or contaminants in the wound or both. The effluvia must be maintained in a sanitary manner and disposed of in such a way as to prevent contamination of the surgical area.
Surgical drapes are used for a variety of purposes including absorption of effluvia and covering the adjacent areas of the patient""s body to prevent spreading of the liquids. Because of the amount of irrigation required in some instances, the drapes are not sufficient to control the spread of the contaminants.
In situations where a pulsed lavage is used to clean and debride a wound, there is significant splatter and atomization of the contaminated liquid. To contain the air born particles, the drape must have a three-dimensional structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,848,998 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,209 disclose a wound treatment apparatus which has a flexible transparent envelope surrounding the wound site. The envelope has an aperture for lavage and an open bottom to place into a lavage basin. The irrigation takes place inside a closed space. However, the introduction of pulsed lavage into the container causes the loss of visibility through the envelope because of water droplets and fog on the inner surface. Additionally, the plastic enclosure is fixed about the extremity and is not easily removed during the surgical procedure. This is extremely important to allow a surgeon access to the wound for repeated surgical debridement which is often needed.
Stamler, U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,003, teaches a cone shaped splash-back shield for use in lavage. The shield has a nozzle in the apex of the cone to produce a fine spray. The bottom of the cone is open for drainage. There are no other openings in the sidewalls of the shield.
Lerman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,859 is similar to the Stamler patent but has an additional suction opening in the shield.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,385 to Greco teaches the use of a cylindrical shield with a lavage aperture and a drain on opposite sides of the cylindrical wall.
What is needed is a flexible drape that prevents splash back and allows the doctor""s view and access for the introduction of surgical instruments into the protected area. The drape Further, the drape may be combined with a flexible drain receptacle including a super absorbent so that the entire contaminated apparatus may be easily disposed in the normal procedures.
Disclosed is a surgical drape for enclosing an area about a wound during lavage. The drape is a transparent sheet of flexible plastic film having a center portion, a margin portion and a periphery. An aperture formed in the center portion of the sheet is adapted to fit about a lavage nozzle. An opening in the margin portion is adapted for manual access to a lavage site, the opening is constructed to prevent escape of lavage during manual access. The surgical drape forms a three-dimensional enclosure about a wound.
The drape is treated on the internal surface with a surfactant or coating to prevent fog and adherence of fluid droplets so the surgeon"" view of the wound is not obscured.
The drape is constructed to be easily removable from the extremity so the surgeon can perform debridements and/or irrigate the wound and then easily re-debride the wound, as needed. This is an important procedure in treating complex wound infections.
Additionally, the drape of this invention includes ports to permit wound retractors to be inserted for exposing a larger surface of the wound.
In a further embodiment, an absorbent pad is shaped to be placed in a drain receptacle whereby the surgical drape forms an enclosure about a wound with the absorbent pad disposed in the drain receptacle for use in collection and disposal of fluids.
Accordingly, it is an object of the instant invention to provide an easily disposable, flexible, transparent, surgical drape to contain splash back and aerosols by-products of a wound lavage while permitting access to the wound site.
It is a further object of the instant invention to provide a surgical kit or tray which includes a surgical drape to capture splash back from lavage and a drain receptacle with an super-absorbent pad.
It is another object of the invention to provide a surgical drape that does not interfere with visual inspection of the wound during lavage.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a surgical drape with sufficient flexibility to conform to various body shapes.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein are set forth, by way of illustration and example, certain embodiments of this invention. The drawings constitute a part of this specification and include exemplary embodiments of the present invention and illustrate various objects and features thereof.